Mobile air compressor unit



Aug. 3, 1954 J. A. WOHLMEYER MOBILE AIR COMPRESSOR UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 19, 1951 In van for: 0 561 M/MILHEFEQ m5 AfroK/Ef g 3, 1954 -J. A. WOHLMEYERY 2,685,404

MOBILE AIR COMPRESSOR UNIT Filed June 19, 1951 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 I77 van for:

Patented Aug. 3, 1954 MOBILE AIR COMPRESSOR UNIT Josef Albert Wohlmeyer, Vienna, Austria Application June 19, 1951, Serial No. 232,263

Claims priority, application Austria June 20, 1950 The invention relates to a mobile set of machines for the production of compressed air which consists of an air compressor, a driving 8 Claims. (Cl. 230-56) motor and a container for compressed air formed as a tubular frame. part of the set of machines may be an internal combustion engine or an electric motor. The compressor may be provided with one or with two pressure stages. pendent upon a certain manner of cooling; the motor as well as the compressor may be equipped with air cooling as well as with water cooling. By a mobile set of machines is to be understood a set of machines which does not form a unit permanently connected to a foundation, but that it is portable, slidable or movable on wheels.

It is the object of the invention to design a mobile set of machines for the production of compressed air of the type specified in such a mannerv that it is particularly well adapted to satisfy practical requirements.

The invention is characterised in the first place in that the tubular frame which serves as compressed air container comprises two parallel tubular rings perpendicularly arranged which are connected together by means of horizontal tubes and surround the air compressor as well as the motor. If a compression in two stages is used, it

is advisable, according to a further development of the invention, that a separated part of the tubular frame forms an intermediate air container between the two compressor stages. This can be done according to the invention in a particularly suitable manner by employing as the intermediate air container two oppositely disposed tube sections of one of the tubular rings and connecting these tube sections by a number of tubes, the connecting tubes serving as an intermediate cooler. It is advisable to surround the intermediate cooler with a sheet metal casing The driving motor forming The invention is not (16'';

and to dispose the inlet and the outlet openings I in such a manner that the cooling air is caused to pass over the whole length of the intermediate cooler. If air cooling is provided for the compressor and the driving motor, then it is advisable to utilize the cooling air for the intermediate cooler also for the cooling of the compressor and the driving motor by arranging these two machines in the path of the cooling air behind the intermediate cooler.

According to a further development of the invention it is suggested to subdivide the tubular frame into sections connected in series which are I passed in succession by the compressed air on its way to the outlet opening. Such a subdivision of the tubular frame to such an extent, that the compressed air can be discharged while still hot, which is often desirable in winter.

The tubular frame surrounding the compressor and the driving motor is composed advantageously from detachably connected sections. In this way it is made possible to take to pieces the whole unit for transportation into any number of individual parts so that particularly transportation by cable way or over mountainous regions is possible without difficulties.

Further features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a set of machines represented by way of example in the, drawings.

The importance of the invention lies in the realisation of a number of advantageous conditions; one of them is the possibility to reduce considerably the weight of the set of machines. The tubular frame, which serves as a compressed air container, offers an effective protection for the more delicate parts of the unit, 1. e. the motor and the compressor, so that there is practically no danger of damage during operation or during the transportation by rail or sea. The design of the tubular frame in the shape of a cage ensures moreover favorable cooling conditions.

In the drawings Fig. 1 represents a cross section through the set of machines according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a side View of the set of machines, Fig. 3 shows a schematic and perspective View of the cage-like tube frame surrounding the set of machines.

The set of machines comprises four cylinders connected to a common crankcase, the cylinders 2 belonging to the driving motor, whilst the cylinder 3a forms the low pressure stage and the cylinder 3b the high-pressure stage of the compressor; the motor and the compressor are surrounded by a tubular frame which consists of two parallel and vertically disposed tubular rings 4 and 5 and of transverse tubes 6, l, 8 and 9. The set of machines is supported by the transverse tubes 6, 8 and it is equipped with a ventilator 40 which supplies cooling air to the cylinders 2 and 3.

Two vertical tube sectionslZ and I3 are separated from the tubular ring 4 by means of blind flanges II and are connected together through a 3 roup of horizontal tubes 14. The tube section I2 is connected through the tube to the pressure side of the low-pressure stage, whilst the tube section i3 is in connection with the suction side of the high-pressure stage through the tube IS. The tube sections I2 and [3 form together with the group of tubes M an intermediate air container, the group of tubes 14 serving at the same time as an intermediate cooler. For this purpose the group of tubes [4 is provided with a sheet metal casing H, the inlet slots I8 and the outlet slots [9 of which are so arranged that the cooling air is caused to pass over the whole length of the tubes I4. The cooling air discharged through the openings i9 is utilised for the cooling of the motor and thecompressor and it is supplied to the cylinders 2 and 3 by means of a ventilator Ill.

The tubular ring 4, with the exception of the tube sections I2 and i3, forms together with the tubular ring 5 and the transverse tubes 6 to 9 the container intended to receive the air when finally compressed which is discharged from the high pressure stage through the tube 20. This compressed air container can be subdivided by means of adjustable flap valves 2! into several sections, through which the compressed air passes in succession on its way to the outlet openings 22, as it is represented in Fig. 3. By the opening of individual control valves 2! the path of the flow of the compressed air can be shortened; accordingly at the same time the cooling effect of the tubular frame is reduced. Particularly hot compressed air can be made available,

frame is constructed as a wheeled carriage. Naturally it can be also formed as a sliding carriage. To the tubular frame a centre pole is connected which has the shape of a sheet plate hood 23 forming a sound silencer and serving to lead away the waste gases from the motor, and it is 7 provided at its end with a coupling eye 24 as well as with a supporting post 25 adjustable in its height.

What I claim is:

1. An air compressor unit comprising an air compressor, a motor driving the compressor. a pair of tubular continuous frames disposed vertically at opposite sides of the compressor and motor and extending beyond the compressor and motor in all directions in the plane of each frame, a plurality of horizontal tubes interconnecting the tubular frames of the pair at portions thereof extending beyond the compressor and motor, the compressor and motor being supported by at least some of the horizontal tubes, a connection from the output side of the compressor to one frame of the pair, and an air outlet in one of the frames of the pair at a region thereof relatively remote in the direction of air flow from the last mentioned connection.

2. Portable compressor unit comprising a twostage air compressor, a driving motor integral with the compressor and in substantially balanced radial relation thereto, a first tubular frame disposed vertically adjacent one side of second frame with the upper and lower sections of the first frame, a connection from the output side of the first stage of the compressor to an end region of the intermediate section of the first tubular frame, a connection from the opposite end region of the intermediate section of the first frame to the input side of the second stage of the compressor, a connection from the output side of the second stage of the compressor to the interconnected upper and lower sections of the first frame and the second frame, and an air outlet in the interconnected second frame and the upper and lower sections of the first frame relatively remote in the direction of air fiow from the connection of the second stage output side.

3. Portable compressor according to claim 2 in which the intermediate section includes a plurality of spaced tubes substantially horizontal in the plane of the first frame, and means are provided for drawing cooling air from the external atmosphere about the plurality of spaced tubes.

4. Portable compressor according to claim 2 in which the intermediate section includes a plurality of spaced tubes substantially horizontal in the plane of the first frame, a casing positioned about the plurality of spaced tubes, a plurality of inlet openings being provided in the face of the casing remote from the compressor and the motor, a single outlet opening being provided substantially centrally in the face of the casing adjacent the compressor and motor, and a suction fan is disposed in the outlet opening for drawing atmospheric air through the inlet openings and over the spaced tubes.

5. Portable compressor unit according to claim 2 in which the intermediate section includes a plurality of spaced tubes substantially horizontal in the plane of the first frame, a casing spacedly positioned about the plurality of spaced tubes, a pair of inlet openings in the casing face most remote from the compressor and motor, each of the inlet openings being substantially at an end region of the casing, a single outlet opening positioned substantially centrally the face of the easing adjacent the compressor and motor, and a suction fan within the outlet opening adapted to draw atmospheric air into the inlet openings and over the spaced tubes of the plurality.

6. Portable compressor unit according to claim 2 in which the compressor and motor have finned cylinders, the intermediate section of the first frame includes a plurality of spaced tubes substantially within the width of the frame, a casing spacedly positioned about the plurality of spaced tubes, a pair of inlet openings in the casing face most remote from the casing and motor, each inlet opening being substantially at an end region of the casing, an outlet opening positioned substantially centrally the casing face adjacent the compressor and motor, a suction fan in the outlet opening, and a plurality of conduits one for each finned cylinder adapted to eject cooling air across the finned cylinders.

'7. Portable compressor unit comprising an air compressor, a, motor driving the compressor, a pair of tubular frames disposed substantially vertically to opposite sides of the compressor and motor and spaced therefrom, the dimensions of the frame exceeding the height and length dimensions of the compressor and motor, a plurality of substantially horizontal cross tubes interconnecting the tubular frames at portions thereof extending beyond the compressor and motor, a connection from the output side of the compressor to one tubular frame of the pair, an air outlet in one of the frames of the pair, and a plurality of stops within each frame of the pair of which the individual stops are so positioned relative each other as to make the air outlet relatively remote in the direction of air flow within the frames and cross tubes from the connection to the output side of the compressor.

8. Portable compressor unit according to claim 7 in which one of the stops of the plurality is adjustable so as to effectively permit ofits removal from the air flow path between the air outlet path and the connection to the output side of the compressor and thus to unblock a direct relatively short path between the output side of the compressor and the air outlet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

